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April 29, 2020 The Swedish writer Maj Sjöwall, a pioneer of the Scandinavian thriller with her husband Peer Wahlöö, authors of the series of ten novels starring Commissioner Martin Beck, died yesterday at the age of 84 after a long illness, surrounded by her family. The death is not related to the coronavirus, a family spokesperson said.The collaboration between the two masters of crime had a political purpose too: the criticism from the left of Swedish social democracy, even with extremes. There are translations in about thirty languages (including Chinese and Japanese) and various cinematographic and television transpositions of Martin Beck's detective story.
In Italy the Sellerio publishing house has published all the narrative work of Sjöwall and Wahlöö: "Roseanna" (Roseanna, 1965), "The man who went up in smoke" (Mannen som gick upp i rök, 1966) and "L ' man on the balcony "(Mannen på balkongen, 1967), then collected also in the volume" The first cases of Martin Beck "of the series" Galleria ", followed by" The laughing policeman "(Den skrattande polisen, 1968)," L ' ghost fire engine "(Brandbilen som försvann, 1969)," Murder in the Savoy "(Polis, polis, potatismos !, 1970)," The man on the roof "(Den vedervärdige mannen från Säffle, 1971)," The closed room "( Det slutna rummet, 1972), "One killer too many" (Polismördaren, 1974).
The last volume of the series is "Terroristi" (Terroristerna, 1975), the year of the death of her husband. In a note, the Sellerio publishing house "remembers her with affection and gratitude, proud to have contributed to the diffusion of her work, from the first title paired with Peer Wahlöö, 'Roseanna', to the last, 'Terrorists'".
Maj Sjöwall, born in Stccholm on September 25, 1935, and her husband Per Wahlöö (1926-1975) met in 1961, when they both worked in the world of journalism. At the time Sjöwall alternated between the role of reporter and that of pager, while Wahlöö, after dealing with crime news, had become editor. The two married in 1962.
In addition to being employed as an editor, Wahllöö wrote detective books, and had already published several novels in the first half of the 1960s. It was precisely the urgency to deliver one of these novels (Uppdraget, 1963, published in Italy as "Clean up the square") to suggest that he let his wife help him, to whom he entrusted the task of describing some characters and environments.
Encouraged by the success, the couple decided to devote themselves to a four-handed novel. After the release of "Roseanna" (1965), the duo decided that he would write more detective stories with Martin Beck and the Stockholm homicide team at the center.
The success of the series went far beyond the borders of Sweden. In recent years Maj Sjöwall has dedicated herself to the translation of mystery writers such as Anne Holt and Gretelise Holm, and occasionally, to writing, curiously always with four hands, first paired with the Danish Bjarne Nielsen for the story "Dansk intermezzo" (Danish Intermezzo, 1989), then with the Dutch Tomas Ross for the novel "The woman who looked like Greta Garbo" (Kvinnan som liknade Greta Garbo, 1990), also published in Italy.